Jeong Won Shin

Eight-year experience of bloodless surgery at a tertiary care hospital in Korea.

BACKGROUND: The Soonchunhyang University Hospital Bloodless Center was established in 2000, and more than 2000 bloodless surgeries has been performed there since. This study was carried out to analyze the characteristics of patients who underwent bloodless surgery and the influences of postoperative lowest hemoglobin level (Hblow) along with the lowest postoperative Hb/preoperative Hb ratio (Hblow/pre) on successful completion of bloodless surgery.

Comparison of total and IgG ABO antibody titers in healthy individuals by using tube and column agglutination techniques.

Background Most immune reactions related to transfusion and transplantation are caused by IgM ABO antibodies. However, IgG also plays an important role in these reactions. Therefore, a method to measure antibodies, including IgG, is necessary. We investigated ABO antibody titers of healthy individuals using a column agglutination technique (CAT) with or without dithiothreitol (DTT) and compared them with titers obtained using a conventional tube method. Methods Among healthy adults who underwent a medical examination, 180 individuals (60 with blood group A, 60 with group B, and 60 with group O) were selected. Antibody titrations were performed using the immediate spin (IS) tube, anti-human globulin (AHG) tube, and CAT with or without DTT methods. Results Higher median values of anti-B and anti-A titers in groups A and B individuals, respectively, were obtained using the IS method than using the AHG method. Higher values for group O individuals were obtained using the AHG method. Higher median titers of anti-B and anti-A in group O individuals were obtained using CAT without DTT than using the AHG method. Median titers of anti-B and anti-A in all blood groups were higher in CAT without DTT than in CAT with DTT, especially for group O individuals. Conclusions We recommend CAT with and without DTT for titration of anti-A and anti-B, especially in group O individuals, to provide more sensitive results that include IgG data. Adjustment of insurance coverage of fees associated with antibody titration might be necessary, considering the actual cost of reagents and personnel.

A Case of Central Nervous System Myelomatosis with Complex Chromosome Aberrations

Involvement of the central nervous system is very uncommon in multiple myeloma, observed in approximately 1% of the multiple myeloma patients. We report a case of central nervous system myelomatosis with complex chromosome aberrations in a 62-yr-old female patient, who had previously been diagnosed as multiple myeloma. Fluorescent in situ hybridization revealed 13q deletion, p53 gene deletion and IGH/FGFR3 rearrangement and chromosomal study showed complex chromosome aberrations. After four cycles of chemotherapy, the patient was admitted to the hematology department with severe headache. Plasma cells were found in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and CSF immunoelectrophoresis revealed abnormal precipitin arcs against anti-IgG and anti-lambda antisera. She was given systemic chemotherapy and eight courses of intrathecal chemotherapy, which cleared plasma cells in the CSF. Two months later, she was given autologous stem cell transplantation. Three months after stem cell transplantation, central nervous system myelomatosis progressed to plasma cell leukemia and two months later, the patient expired.

Activities of Quality Improvement for Blood Culture at a University Hospital

Background: Blood culture is a critical test for diagnosing bloodstream infections. Frequent microbial contamination during sampling and testing leads to abuse of antimicrobial agents. We evaluated methods for reducing contamination and obtaining more reliable results. Methods: We analyzed blood cultures obtained between 2009 and 2015. We established 6 quality indicators: true positive rate, contamination rate, blood sampling volume, number of sets of blood cultures, delayed transportation rate, and percentage of samples collected from the femoral region, with reference to the CLSI guideline M47-A, 2007. Education was provided for interns and nurses responsible for blood sampling and transportation of specimens, and data were analyzed monthly. Results: At baseline, the true positive rate was 12.8%, and the contamination rate was 4.0%. During the intervention period, these were decreased to 10.9% and 1.9%, respectively. The percentage of samples smaller than 5 mL decreased from 29.7% to 2.711.3%. The rate of one set of blood cultures being ordered was always <5%. The delayed transportation rate decreased from 35.6% to 5.5-7.7%. Finally, the percentage of samples collected from the femoral region decreased from 41.5% to 22.0-31.0%, because of which we did not attain our goal, 20.8%. Conclusion: The results showed improvements in contamination rate, specimen volume, specimen transportation time, and the percentage of samples collected from the femoral region. The quality management of blood cultures in 2011 was comparatively poor, which led to increased contamination rate, large number of samples containing <5 mL of blood, and increased percentage of samples collected from the femoral region. Thus, quality improvement methods can produce more reliable results of blood cultures. (Ann Clin Microbiol 2015;18:88-93)

Can maximum surgical blood order schedule be used as a predictor of successful completion of bloodless surgery

Background The Soonchunhyang University Hospital Bloodless Center was established in 2000, and more than 2,000 bloodless surgeries have been performed there since. In this study, the lowest postoperative Hb/preoperative Hb (Hblow/pre) ratio and mortality rates of patients who underwent bloodless surgery were analyzed for each maximum surgical blood order schedule (MSBOS) category to assess whether MSBOS can be used as a predictor of successful completion of bloodless surgery. Methods A total of 971 patients were included. MSBOS was defined as the average number of units of RBCs transfused during each elective surgery. We used the Hblow/pre ratio as an alternative to intraoperative blood loss. Frequency of Hblow/pre ratios ≤0.5, use of transfusion alternatives, and mortality rates were compared across MSBOS categories. Results Out of the 971 patients, 701 (72.2%) were categorized as type and screen (T&S), 184 (18.9%) as MSBOS 1, 64 (6.6%) as MSBOS 2, and 22 (2.3%) as MSBOS 4. Transfusion alternatives were used by 397 (40.9%) patients. The frequency of the use of simultaneous erythropoietin and iron, hemostatics, acute normovolemic hemodilution, and Cell Saver (Haemonetics corp., USA) was higher in patients in the higher MSBOS categories. Six (0.6%) patients died within 30 days of surgery. Hblow/pre ratios tended to be lower as the level of MSBOS category increased. Conclusions Surgeries in the higher MSBOS categories tended to be associated with high blood loss and mortality. Active use of transfusion alternatives is recommended in patients in high MSBOS categories who are scheduled to undergo bloodless surgery.

Efficiency of an automated reception and turnaround time management system for the phlebotomy room.

Background Recent advances in laboratory information systems have largely been focused on automation. However, the phlebotomy services have not been completely automated. To address this issue, we introduced an automated reception and turnaround time (TAT) management system, for the first time in Korea, whereby the patients information is transmitted directly to the actual phlebotomy site and the TAT for each phlebotomy step can be monitored at a glance. Methods The GNT5 system (Energium Co., Ltd., Korea) was installed in June 2013. The automated reception and TAT management system has been in operation since February 2014. Integration of the automated reception machine with the GNT5 allowed for direct transmission of laboratory order information to the GNT5 without involving any manual reception step. We used the mean TAT from reception to actual phlebotomy as the parameter for evaluating the efficiency of our system. Results Mean TAT decreased from 5:45 min to 2:42 min after operationalization of the system. The mean number of patients in queue decreased from 2.9 to 1.0. Further, the number of cases taking more than five minutes from reception to phlebotomy, defined as the defect rate, decreased from 20.1% to 9.7%. Conclusions The use of automated reception and TAT management system was associated with a decrease of overall TAT and an improved workflow at the phlebotomy room.

Evaluation of OraQuick Advance Rapid HIV-1/2 Antibody Test as a Screening Test for HIV Infection

Background: For the diagnosis of HIV infection, enzyme immunoassay (EIA) or chemiluminescence immunoassay (CLIA) is commonly used as a screening test. Although these methods have a high sensitivity and low cost, their high false positive rate can cause confusion in the patients and clinicians until a more specific test is done. OraQuick Advance Rapid HIV-1/2 Antibody Test (OraQuick) (OraSure Technologies, USA) is a rapid test that can detect HIV-1/2 antibodies in 20 minutes. It uses oral fluid, whole blood or serum sample. In this study, we evaluated the usefulness of the OraQuick as a screening and point-of-care test for HIV infection. Methods: From Jan 2007 to Dec 2008, 45,276 samples referred to our laboratory were tested by CLIA method using the ADVIA Centaur (Bayer Healthcare LTD., USA) for HIV-1/2 antibody detection. Among them, 74 positive and 50 negative samples were tested by the Western immunoblot assay (WIB) and OraQuick test as a case-control study. Also, oral fluids from 30 HIV patients and 48 healthy persons were tested by OraQuick test. Results: The sensitivity and specificity of OraQuick test (using serum samples) were 100% and 98.8% (95% confidence interval 96.9∼100%), respectively. OraQuick tests (using oral fluid samples) were all positive for HIV patients but all negative for healthy persons. Conclusion: This study suggests that OraQuick can be used successfully as a rapid test for the early detection of HIV-1/2 antibody in patients visiting emergency departments and for the prevention of HIV infection in the health care providers. (Korean J Clin Microbiol 2009;12:116-121)

A case of multiple myeloma showing marked differences in serum IgG levels between protein electrophoresis and turbidimetry

We report a case of multiple myeloma showing marked differences in serum Immunoglobulin G (IgG) levels between serum protein electrophoresis and turbidimetry. A 47-yr old man was admitted to our hospital due to severe back pain and diagnosed as having IgG-kappa type multiple myeloma. Serum protein level was 14.4 g/dL at the time of diagnosis. Serum IgG level was 8.5 g/dL by serum protein electrophoresis, but 11.6 g/dL by turbidimetry. The patients clinical conditions had improved after receiving VAD (vincristine, adriamycin, dexamethasone) and VTD (vincristine, thalidomide, dexamethasone) chemotherapy and there were no differences in IgG levels between electrophoresis and turbidimetry when serum IgG levels were less than 3.0 g/dL. According to this, we considered that both protein electrophoresis and turbidimetry should be needed to quantify serum immunoglobulins for diagnosis and follow-up of the patients with monoclonal gammopathy.